Rates of obesity in the U.S. and around the world have more than doubled over the past three decades, according to a new study in The Lancet.
Why it matters: More than 1 billion people worldwide now have obesity, a sign of worsening nutrition that's also raising the risk of leading causes of death and disease such as high blood pressure, cancer and diabetes.
Salt Lake City-based Nutraceutical Corporation is recalling more than 102,000 bottles of Heritage Store Hydrogen Peroxide mouthwash for posing a potential poisoning risk.
Why it matters: A lack of child-resistant packaging on the mouthwash that contains ethanol is a hazard if swallowed by young children, according to the recall notice.
WeightWatchers' stock plunged Thursday after longtime celebrity booster Oprah Winfrey announced she's leaving the board and giving away her stock in the company.
Why it matters: Winfrey's decision to join WeightWatchers and the company's board in 2015 improved investor confidence in its fortunes for a time.
Progress on many key health care quality measures was reversed during the first two years of the pandemic, according to a new comprehensive federal review.
Why it matters: The report identified a "significant worsening" of patient safety measures and "persistent" health equity gaps for historically disadvantaged patients as COVID-19 overwhelmed the health care system.
Proposed "personhood" laws getting a closer look after Alabama's IVF ruling could vastly complicate reproductive care in some states that require insurance coverage of fertility treatments and drugs, by setting up potentially clashing mandates on what to do with frozen embryos.
Why it matters: Barring the disposal of unused IVF embryos —one possible outcome of such measures — could drive up costs for health plans and employers and force providers to find workarounds like shipping unused embryos out of state or limiting the numberof embryos produced per cycle.
States struggling to house recently arrived immigrants may have a new way to get financial help from the federal government: through Medicaid.
Why it matters: TheBiden administration's push for Medicaid to cover housing and other social needs comes as blue cities and states overwhelmed by the number of immigrants arriving from the border have been demanding more federal support to provide them shelter and care.
The Biden campaign is seizing on Senate Republicans' decision to block a bill enshrining federal protections for in-vitro fertilization (IVF), arguing that former President Trump would have intervened if he truly supported IVF.
Why it matters: Republicans are under massive pressure to distance themselves from the Alabama Supreme Court's ruling that frozen embryos should be considered children, which prompted several of the state's fertility clinics to pause IVF treatments out of fear of prosecution.
People 65 and over should receive a second shot of the updated COVID-19 vaccine this spring, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.
Why it matters: A second shot could offer updated protection for an age group that remains at highest risk of severe illness from COVID-19.
Two-thirds of Americans oppose considering frozen embryos as people, with the issue rapidly resonating with Democrats already charged up by election-year messaging on reproductive rights, a new Axios-Ipsos poll finds.
Why it matters: The findings suggest the Alabama Supreme Court decision on in vitro fertilization goes well beyond where public sentiment is in the post-Roe world.
